Second Avenue subway already has bad track record: NYDN

Firemen and utility crews work the scene at 72nd Street and 2nd Avenue where sandhogs used too much explosive while blasting in the 2nd Avenue subway tunnel and sent concrete and debris blasting into the street. A generator was severely damaged and several windows across the street were broken by flying debris. No one was injured after the dynamite blast. (Craig Warga/ New York Daily News)

It hasn't even opened yet, and the Second Avenue subway is already causing trouble.

Residents near the dig sites have long complained about the noise and general disruption caused by the construction, which began in 2007. But a Daily News investigation has uncovered a troubling series of safety violations by contractors at the growing network of tunnels on the east side that will eventually become the city's long-awaited new subway line.

Within the last two years, investigations have turned up 18 safety violations worth $61,000 in fines. Further investigations are pending as the first phase of the massive project churns along, with a taxpayer-funded price tag that works out to more than $1 billion per subway stop.

Violations have involved hitting live gas lines, exposure to silica dust, improper handling of contaminated soil and a "controlled" blast that sent rocks and debris shooting six stories high, damaging a nearby building.

Tunnel blasting was completed earlier this spring and the MTA has predicted that the new line will be open in 2016.